Jody didn’t quite know what to make of the plastic chimp toy we put out for enrichment the other day. She decided to take things into her own hands and threw a “car” at the toy.
She got out of the way in case the toy retaliated.
Archives for March 2009
Grooming with tools
Jamie likes using tools so much she invents reasons to use them. Here Jamie is trying to groom Diana’s broken fingernail with a plastic wrench:
Easter enrichment-making party
For those who live in the Seattle area, Jeani is organizing another enrichment party to put together fun stuff for the chimpanzees’ first Easter/Spring celebration. She is thinking of meeting at the end of March. Check out this post for photos of the last enrichment party – talk about kooky!
Join the fun! Learn more on this CSNW forum post.
If you haven’t signed up for the forum, it’s quck and painless, connects you with other CSNW supporters, and is a place where you can ask the CSNW staff questions. You don’t have to be local to join!
Foxie playing in mirror, continued
I caught a couple of still photos the other day when Foxie was playing with her troll-in-the-sock while watching herself in the mirror. Missy did persist in trying to get Foxie’s attention and eventually engaged Foxie in play. I think they are both “kooks” 🙂
Jody and her bubbles
I posted a photo of Jody with her bucket of soapy water a few weeks ago, but I can’t resist posting the rest of the series:
Foxie playing in the mirror
Today I discovered a new game with Foxie. I was having difficulty throwing her troll doll back to her (some days my aim is just off), so I put it in a sock and tossed it up, my thought being that she would have more to grab on to. It worked like a charm, and Foxie actually really liked the sock! She almost immediately flung it over her neck, walked down the stairs and began playing with it in front of the mirror. I am sure other chimpanzees have done this before, but it was the first time I have personally seen a chimp play in front of a mirror. She was so enamored with her own reflection playing, that she completely ignored Missy’s attempts to get her attention. For the rest of the day, Foxie carried around the sock, sometimes in her hand, sometimes over her shoulders, and once on the top of her head. Every once in a while she would go back to the mirror and play.
Bad weather, happy chimps
The chimps have been in very good moods lately, despite this late winter snow storm. Sometimes when they’re too cooperative, and they’re not spitting and banging at us at all, I get suspicious…
This morning, when Elizabeth and I went in to say good morning to the chimps, Foxie passed two small trolls to me and proceeded to do a dozen pirouettes and at least as many backflips. Missy and Jody both wore makeshift garter belts for a good part of the day (I think one of them was a scrunchy). I managed to catch a few more of the day’s activities on camera:
